Date for disposable vape ban set

Disposable vapes will become illegal to sell throughout the UK on 1 April 2025, the Scottish government has claimed. It proposed its own legislation, including this date last week, alongside a statement claiming that all governments in the UK had “worked together to agree on a date for when the ban will come into force, to provide cer­tainty for businesses and consumers”. There has been no announcement of a start date for the ban from any other government.

Meanwhile, a new tax on vapes was included in this week’s Spring Budget, with the nicotine strength a determining factor in the level of tax to be applied. Responding to the Scot­tish government’s draft legislation, The Scottish Grocers’ Federation chief executive, Pete Cheema, said it failed to address the likely illicit trade a ban would create.

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The step towards the disposables ban by Ho­lyrood comes as vaping bodies continued their attempts to avert the planned vaping restric­tions, which also include limits on shop displays, flavours and packaging.

Licensing scheme

At a separate par­liamentary event last month, the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) proposed a vape-licensing scheme, limit­ing vape product sales to licensed outlets. An estimated £50m per year in retailer licence fees would be used to enforce a four-strike penalty system to crack down on rogue sellers, with maximum fines of £10,000 for licensed stores on their fourth strike, or unlicensed stores from the outset.